On the surface, Eggs in Pokémon Go appear to simply be another way of randomly acquiring a few new Pokes - but just just like the mighty Magikarp, we shouldn't judge Eggs by their seemingly ineffectual appearances.

Eggs and hatching can still be an extremely useful tool for expanding your collection - or indeed powering up the Pokémon you already have.

Note only the first evolution of each chain is available from an Egg - for example Bulbasaur can be hatched from an Egg, but not Ivysaur or Venusaur.

That rule is now the same for the baby Pokémon Togepi, Pichu, Smoochum and so on, as they were seemingly counted as pre-evolutions at first and included alongside their evolved forms - for example, Elekid with Electabuzz - in their respective egg groups. To be clear, you can now only get the babies in those evolution chains.

New events and generations have seen several refreshes to the list, with new additions added or familiar faces shifting distances or being removed altogether.

January and February's Gen 3 updates have seen many new additions to the list - thanks to wreak_hav0c and ZoomBoingDing on the Silph Road subreddit for clarifying these.

What are my chances of hatching a specific Pokémon in 2km, 5km and 10km Eggs?

While anecdotal experience at launch suggested certain creatures do have higher chances than others from hatching in Eggs, the researchers at the Silph Road proved there are rarity tiers when it comes to eggs.

The findings can be summerised as there being four tiers of rarity across all three egg groups, and though the three groups more or less fit into them (2km being common, 5km uncommon, and 10km rare) there is some crossover, with some 5km creatures having very rare hatches, and 10km having some uncommon hatches.

What does this tell us? The longer the distance, the higher your chances of a rarer creature, but that isn't guarentted - which explains why you'll find Sudowoodo and Mantines more often than Chanseys and Snorlaxs in 10km eggs. You can see the exact chances in Silph Road's rarity tier research.

What else you need to know about hatching 2km, 5km and 10km Eggs in Pokémon Go

Finally, there are a few other general - but still important - tips to bear in mind when hatching Eggs in Pokémon Go:

The Egg hatching list changes over time. While at launch it was noted that 10km Eggs could feature creatures from 2km and 5km tiers, this now no longer seems to be the case. More common creatures such as Pidgeys and Rattatas were also removed from the set as part of an Autumn update, alongside the demotion of Eevee hatches.

You can only hold a maximum of 9 Eggs at a time, including the Eggs you have in Incubators.

If you hit the maximum of 9 Eggs, you'll watch to hatch some as quickly as you can, so as to keep as steady a flow of new Eggs as possible. Prioritise 2km Eggs until you have some more space.

Incubators purchased with PokéCoins are disposable, with only three uses each. To get the very most out of them, hatch your 10km Eggs in the disposable Incubators, whilst your free, infinite-use Incubator quickly churns out 2km and 5km Eggs in a higher volume.

Pokémon Eggs are likely to be the quickest way to power up your starter Pokémon - Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle - unless you're fortunate enough to have found a particularly good spot to find them in the wild. The fact they can be found in the relatively common, quick-to-hatch Eggs makes all the difference.

The Pokémon Go app has to be open in order for your distance to be counted, however you don't have to have your phone out and draining battery for it to function. Turning on the Battery Saver option in Pokemon Go's menu will instruct the app to dim its brightness when lowered to your side, whilst keeping the app open will automatically prevent your phone from locking or going to sleep - meaning you can open up Pokémon Go then just keep it in your pocket whilst taking a stroll (and repeatedly stopping to catch more Pokémon...)

Travelling in cars, trains, and other fast-moving vehicles won't count towards your distance travelled, as the game knows when you're moving too fast to be walking.

Often the app will display your character as moving slightly, even though you and your phone may be staying perfectly still. This can, in fact, be used to help tick away at your Egg hatching - plug your phone into a charger, leave it open, and the game should do some of the work for you simply through the quirks of its GPS.

The CP of Pokémon hatched from Eggs are tied trainer level at the time you acquired the Egg - not at the time the Egg hatches.

It appears that now and again seasonal updates will increase the rates of some drops, such as Pokémon Go's Halloween event, so be sure to keep an eye on that if you're saving your Incubators for a special time.

Farfetch'd, Kangaskhan, Mr Mime, Tauros, Heracross and Corsola are the only region-locked Pokemon in Pokemon Go and are thus unable to find through either Egg hatching or encountering in the wild outside of those regions.

If you're a completionist, then hatching Eggs is a requirement for one of Pokémon Go's Medals, which might be an added incentive if you're not particularly interested in Candy or Stardust.